Integrated circuits, also referred to as “IC's” or “semiconductor chips” or simply “chips,” are electronic circuits made by diffusion of trace elements into the surface of thin substrates of semiconductor material. Integrated circuits were first produced in the mid 20th Century. Because of their small size and relatively low production cost, integrated circuits are now used in most modern electronics. Semiconductor chips are typically mass produced in the form of a single wafer that contains a large number of identical integrated circuits. The wafer is cut (“singulated”) into a number of individual semiconductor chips referred to as “dies” or “dice.”
Dies and sometimes other components such as passive devices are “packaged” to prevent damage to the dies and to facilitate attachment of the dies to circuit boards. Various packaging materials and processes have been used to package integrated circuit dies. One conventional packaging method involves mounting individual dies in a predetermined pattern on a substrate strip. The dies mounted on the substrate strip are then encapsulated in a plastic material, such as by a transfer molding process. Next, the encapsulated dies are singulated into individual integrated circuit packages by cutting the encapsulated die/substrate strip in accordance with the predetermined die mounting pattern. Typical cutting tools include saws and punches. Each integrated circuit package generally includes at least one die and the underlying portion of the substrate strip on which it was mounted. The underlying substrate strip is sometimes a leadframe to which the die is electrically connected.